We're up at 6 to catch our 9:05 flight to Paris, it's brisk outside this morning and the only people on the streets are the garbage guys and a lone shop keeper. We mostly packed last night, so it's only a matter of grabbing some clothes off the clothes line, taking the trash out, and lugging our bags down the stairs. On the street by 6:45am, this should be a breeze to get to the airport...the walk across town gets us to the local city light rail, and we're at the main train station by 7:05. The ticket machines don't have an English version, but I work my way through it just to realize that the machine doesn't take bills, just coins, and of course I don't have enough coins.

Frustrated, I say let's just go get a taxi, but the taxi driver's want 45E to literally go 5 miles down the road, so screw that, back to the train station to get change. The store clerk won't give me coin change for a $10 bill...rude B!%&$. Luckily I ask a random girl and she has change, so after wasting 15 minutes we have our tickets for the train (which doesn't actually go all the way to the airport, but it's the best way to get across most of town), the 15 wasted minutes weren't actually wasted because the first train doesn't leave until 7:40 anyways. There is another train strike today...but come to find out, the strikes are only partial because some workers don't want to stay home and not get paid so there are always some trains running.

Off the train at 7:51...WHERE DO WE GO!??!?!?!??!? There is supposed to be an express bus pick up here, but there are no signs, we're running short on time, lets walk it. s***, it's a long walk, especially with 2 bags, 2 backpacks, a stroller, a sleeping baby, and a pregnant wife...she's going to kill me! Bad goes to worse real quick as we arrive at Terminal 1 at 8:05 knowing that we need to go to Terminal 2, but it's supposedly a short bus ride...5 more minutes waiting on the bus, we're running out of time!!

On the bus, I'm thinking, surely this just runs back and forth directly to the terminal, but nope, out the airport and down the road in the wrong direction of the terminal to go pick people up...this is the express bus that we were supposed to get on at the train station! "Get off, get off, we're hiking it, it'll be faster!" Yea..................bad to worse to real worse. What we thought was Terminal 2 is actually the Cargo Terminal and Terminal 2 is like another 3/4 mile on the other side...up hill...on a s*** asphalt road...we've literally been running and alternately fast walking for something like 2 or 3 miles now...and the sun is fully up and it's down right hot. Definitely don't have a happy wife on my hands now...and I feel terrible for putting her through this crap.

Sweating like a pig, breathing hard, wife in shambles, and now an upset child...we come into the terminal like a whirlwind to find the airline did last call 3 minutes ago for check-in...we're not getting on this plane despite our marathon for the last 2 hours. Bad to worse to real worse to outright disaster.

HOW did we miss this flight? In a country with amazing public transportation systems, it sure isn't easy or cheap to get anywhere! Should have taken that damn 45E taxi ride! We've never missed a flight, ever...now all of a sudden we've missed 2 in 1 trip???

The airline doesn't have another open flight until 10pm tonight; and no way I'm not going to Paris as soon as possible after what I just put Heather through. Luckily, the ladies at AirFrance were super sweet and hooked us up at a deeply discounted rate with 3 seats together on a 10:40am direct flight. Then at check-in, the clerk tells us they don't gate check strollers, so it'll have to get checked-in (which is free of charge), but on the other side of security we see several families with their strollers, what gives? The flight is delayed 35 minutes, but other than that, its an uneventful arrival in Paris.

French people are hit or miss on rude or friendly, about every other one is a total ass, and the next is a sweetheart.

The train from the airport starts off empty but is bursting at the seams after a couple of stops...we're taking up the aisle, 2 seats, infringing on 2 other seats, and I'm standing in the doorway with 2 bags and 2 backpacks...we don't care how many dirty looks we get, we've had a rough morning! Out at the last stop on the line, we opt for a taxi to our apartment in lieu of taking the next train and finishing it off with a walk...its been a long day already...

Our apartment is literally right next door to "the best hamburger in Paris" so we pull in and have a hamburger and fries while we wait for the apartment guy to come let us in and give us keys. The hamburger is good...a little different than back home...and if its the best in Paris...no need to try anywhere else...

Shower, change of clothes, and out the door to go see what we can see. Our apartment is about 6 blocks from the Louve, so it's a quick walk down, and then through the middle of it to the glass pyramids. MD doesn't understand what a museum is or that she should be quiet even if it's just the outside plaza...so she runs around like a mad women screaming and hollaring. Let her be a kid!

Through Jardin des Tuelleris and across the street to Angelina, its 6:55pm, they've stopped serving hot chocolate but we were able to pick up some macaroons to take back to the park. It's cold in Paris, and we didn't wear good enough clothes to be out here tonight, so we pull up short on going to the Arc de Triomphe and opt to stroll back down the West Bank of the Siene River and then across the Lover's Bridge (bridge for the mistresses...the wife's bridge is down by Notre Dame).

I thought the Louvre was open late tonight, but it is not, so we can't duck in for a quick peek at the Mona Lisa, so instead we head back towards the apartment and stop at a quaint little bistro and have a nice meal. And try to call it an early night so we can catch up on our sleep, but somehow it is still 12:45.